


all of this is not a coincidence

by towokuwusatsuwu



Category: Kamen Rider Build
Genre: Developing Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Praise Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 17:37:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12137640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/towokuwusatsuwu/pseuds/towokuwusatsuwu
Summary: Soichi Isurugi takes in two young men with nowhere else to go. They fit together far better than anyone would have guessed.





	all of this is not a coincidence

At the time, Sento Kiryu thinks little of the way Soichi Isurugi picks him up off of the pavement of an alley he doesn’t recognize, shielding him from the cold rain biting into his skin.

His mind is a hopeless jumble of unconnected thoughts and hazy reaches for memories he can barely brush his fingertips against. Soichi doesn’t ask him any questions, not then, not when Sento can barely form proper sentences and when he shakes so violently he can almost feel his bones rattling in their sockets. Instead, Soichi helps him peel cold wet fabric away from his skin and wraps him in fluffy towels that dampen the chill and give him a chance to breathe, brushing water droplets out of his eyes when he blinks to clear them out of his eyelashes.

He gives him a home when no one else would have extended a helping hand to a genius whose only tangible memories are of his own name and human experimentation, which sounds more like a fantasy than a reality. He lets him tinker around in the basement until his ideas become full-fledged machines: the Smash essence purifier to harness Misora’s power, and the Build driver.

“ _ Bravo, _ ” Soichi says to him, and Sento preens, and he can barely remember feeling so cold.

* * *

Truth be told, Ryuga Banjo’s life has never been anything less than hectic, between the fighting and the fixing and the desperation to do anything he could to extend Kasumi’s life, find a way to cure her illness. The murder, the running, the impossible meeting with Sento— those are all par for the course in a life that has never been anything close to mundane. Still, he’s so thrown off by everything to do with life at Nascita and the strange symbiosis of life here.

In a world that has never really made sense to him, this somehow feels like a fantasy world.

He tries to keep up to the best of his abilities but he feels helpless when Sento has the power to fight the Smash and all he can really do right now is get in the way in the middle of a battle. The desire to clear his name and to find the organization that had ruined his life, that had changed Sento’s and taken Kasumi’s, burns through him and leaves him reeling all at once.

Most of the time, Ryuga just expects the others to either not notice when he starts to disconnect from the world around them. They all have their own lives— Sento has people to save, Misora has work and sleep, Soichi has a business to run— and Ryuga hardly expects any of them to pay attention to him unless they have to. He tries to keep to himself when the world feels unreal, when all he can seem to do is retreat into himself and wait for the moment to pass.

Soichi sets a mug of coffee into his hands and Ryuga blinks up at him, his mouth unable to form anything close to words. “Take a breath and relax. I know it’s hard. But it will get better, I promise.”

Ryuga swallows around a lump in his throat and stares down at the mug in his hands, aware of the moment when Soichi rests a hand on his shoulder, gives it a companionable squeeze. There should be no reason that a cup of coffee or a hand on his shoulder should help anchor him to the real world, but they do. Ryuga bites down hard on his lower lip to stop it from trembling before taking a drink of coffee and offering Soichi a grateful smile in return.

As time passes, Sento starts to notice, too, which hardly surprises Ryuga given Sento’s genius intellect. He never has much to say, just leans his weight against Ryuga, warm and solid and real, and Ryuga grabs for his hand, or just throws his arms around him, anything to hold onto him. And he thinks about the cup of coffee and presses his face against Sento’s neck, grateful to have a here and a now to hold onto, grateful not to be going through all of this alone.

* * *

The day is overcast and damp, and Soichi closes Nascita early when he realizes few customers are going to want to brave this weather for a cup of coffee. Not that he can blame them as he has no desire to leave the shop himself. So he changes the sign to Closed and locks the door, heading downstairs to check on the others. Misora is still asleep, of this he has no doubt. He just wonders if Sento and Ryuga are getting enough sleep these days.

At least he has no trouble keeping the two of them in check when he has to.

Sento is awake, standing in front of his chalkboard, chalk flying across the black surface with an incredible speed that Soichi pauses to admire for a moment. He’s always been somewhat dazzled by Sento’s intellect, his ability to piece things together, his skill at developing the tools he needs to fight the Smash and save the people beneath. Usually, he thinks back to that afternoon when he first scooped Sento off of the street and he can hardly wrap his mind around the fact this is the same man as that day; he’s proud of him for coming this far.

Ryuga sits backwards in Sento’s chair, arms folded on top of the backrest, chin resting on top of them, watching Sento with what appears to be an awed expression in his eyes. When he realizes Soichi is watching him, though, he sits up suddenly, his hands falling into his lap, eyes a little wider even as he turns them away. Soichi might be imagining the slight flush in his cheeks.

“You wanna give your hand a break?” Soichi asks, and Sento stops writing, glancing over his shoulder at him. “Think you both can go for a cup of coffee upstairs?”

Sento dusts chalk off of his hands. “I suppose. Look how much work I’ve gotten done today!”

A glance at the chalkboard reveals that Soichi, as per usual, cannot make heads or tails of what Sento has written. Still, Sento looks up at him with those bright brown eyes, an almost expectant expression on his face. So Soichi smiles as broadly as he can and leans in, lets both hands come to rest on Sento’s shoulders, bowing his head a little so his words are just for Sento.

“ _ Bravissimo, _ ” he murmurs, and Sento beams up at him. “You’ve done a wonderful job, Sento.”

He takes the two of them upstairs and pours them all a cup of coffee, adding a piece of bread to the toaster up here for good measure. The steady drumming of the rain on the rooftop creates an almost pleasant rhythm here in the empty cafe, and he supposes the boys must think so as well because both of them are unusually quiet, merely thanking him for their coffee.

The two of them have left an empty chair between them, so Soichi helps himself to it, sliding the now-crisped toast toward Sento. In any other situation, the quiet might be heavy on the three of them since their shared life is anything but quiet, but now it’s pleasant and easy. Sento eats his toast in bites, sliding a piece of it across the bar to Ryuga without being asked. The coffee is warm enough to keep the chill in the room at bay and Soichi feels more at peace than he has in a long time. He knows the rain and the coffee is hardly the source of that peace.

Ryuga clears his throat without looking up. “This is… This is nice, isn’t it? The three of us…”

“It is nice,” Sento muses, tracing one fingertip around the edge of his mug; Soichi can see a smear of chalk he missed. “Why do you bring it up?”

“I was just thinking… When we’ve cleared my name, I won’t really need to stay here anymore, will I?” Ryuga asks, though there’s a slight tremor in his voice.

Soichi takes Ryuga’s hand in his, brushing a thumb over his scarred knuckles, feeling Ryuga’s hand nearly spasm in his. “Ryuga, you can stay here for as long as you like.”

Sento hums in agreement, and Ryuga smiles down into his mug.

Above them, the rain drums away.


End file.
